Distribution of Petrol Products with Rail Suffers Hitches over Railway Concession Programme
The plan to distribute petroleum products through rails has suffered some hitches over the decision of the government to concession the rail system.
The Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF), Mr. Ahmed Bobboi told newsmen in Abuja that the plan to introduce railway petrol equalization which will lead to distribution of petroleum products through the rail lines will have to wait until the conclusion of the railway concession by the federal government.
.Boboi said ““We planned to introduce railway equalisation last year, but certain developments delayed it and one of them was the planned concession of the railways by the government and at a point General Electric showed interest and obviously we want to wait and see who will manage the railway system either the government or private sector.”
“We are also talking to the PPMC (Petroleum Products Marketing Company) and NARTO (National Association of Road Transport Owners) to get them involved in the railway transportation, and may be they will convert their tankers. This will reduce the pressure on our roads, as well as wear and tear on them. We are hoping it will happen very soon.”
The Executive Secretary also disclosed that a new technology known as sensor monitoring has been introduced to monitor and determine the volume of petroleum products consumption on daily basis.
The technology, he said, also checks diversion of products by marketers.
Boboi explained, “We have introduced some few policies recently and these include the sensor monitoring project which is going on now. This is major in the sense that it does not just stop at serving the PEF but also agencies like the National Bureau of Statistics which require information we provide on petroleum products landing in this country and the refineries.
“This is key because up till today, it is difficult to determine how much we consume in this country in terms of PMS (petrol). Different agencies give you different figures and I think it is not neat, but by introducing this sensor monitoring project, we believe it will serve the purpose of answering all these questions.”
“Censor monitoring was approved by the Federal Executive Council in August 2018 and it is supposed to run for three years. Work has already started and before the end of this year, we will begin to see some of the landmarks.”
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